While Lei Shen is in range of a Lightning Conduit he powers it, granting him an additional ability specific to that Lightning Conduit. The energy level of the Conduit increases the longer Lei Shen charges it, increasing damage dealt by the granted ability. When the Conduit's power reaches 100 energy, it will increase the level of the Conduit, and the Conduit's power will reset to 0.

North Conduit: Static Shock
– Lei Shen charges the target with Static Shock. After 8 sec, Static Shock inflicts 48000 Nature damage, divided among all players within 8 yards.As the level of the Static Shock Conduit increases, the number of targets Lei Shen afflicts with Static Shock will also increase.

Damage of Static Shock increases as the Power and Level of the North Conduit increases.

East Conduit: Diffusion Chain
– Lei Shen zaps a player, inflicting 8775 to 9225 Nature damage. This attack chains to nearby enemies, inflicting increased damage to each successive target. Each time Diffusion Chain strikes an enemy, a Diffused Lightning spawns at that location.As the level of the Diffusion Chain Conduit increases, the spawned Diffused Lightning elementals grow more powerful.

Damage of Diffusion Chain increases as the Power and Level of the East Conduit increases.

In Heroic difficulty, the Diffused Lightning will fixate on the player that it spawned from.

South Conduit: Overcharge
– Lei Shen Overcharges a target player. The player becomes rooted and after 6 sec causes Overcharge to burst, creating a torus of electric energy around the target that quickly expands to create a ring with a safe area in the center. This burst inflicts 11700 to 12300 Nature damage, stunning affected targets for 3 sec.As the level of the Overcharge Conduit increases, the number of targets Lei Shen afflicts with Overcharge also increases.

Damage of Overcharge increases as the Power and Level of the South Conduit increases.

West Conduit: Bouncing Bolt
– Lei Shen conjures Bouncing Bolts that target random locations on the ground. Each Bolt inflicts 8775 to 9225 Nature damage split among players within 6 yards. If the Bouncing Bolt does not impact with a player, an Unharnessed Power forms, and the Bouncing Bolt bounces again.As the level of the Bouncing Bolt Conduit increases, the number of Bouncing Bolts that Lei Shen conjures also increases.

Damage of Bouncing Bolt increases as the Power and Level of the West Conduit increases.

Unharnessed Power
– Each time a Bouncing Bolt impacts the ground and is not absorbed by a player, an Unharnessed Power forms.

Thunderstruck
– Lei Shen winds up to hurl his axe at a target location, inflicting 117000 to 123000 Nature damage to nearby enemies. The damage inflicted decreases the farther away an enemy is from the impact point.

When he has 65% health remaining, Lei Shen casts Supercharge Conduits, becoming invulnerable and activating all four Conduits at once, supercharging them and increasing their level by one. Lei Shen can only maintain Supercharge Conduits for 45 seconds.

Overloaded Circuits
– The Conduit with the highest charge after Supercharge Conduits expires becomes Overloaded, disabling the Conduit. An Overloaded Conduit inflicts 2925 to 3075 Nature damage every 1 sec to that quadrant of the room.

In Heroic difficulty, instead of the Overloaded Conduit becoming disabled, it remains active for the remainder of the fight, granting Lei Shen that ability.

Helm of Command
– Lei Shen forces the target off the platform by using his Helm of Command. Inflicts 8775 to 9225 Nature damage every 1 sec for 8 sec.

When he has 30% health remaining, Lei Shen casts Supercharge Conduits, becoming invulnerable and activating all four Conduits at once, supercharging them and increasing their level by one. Lei Shen can only maintain Supercharge Conduits for 45 seconds.

In Heroic difficulty, instead of the Overloaded Conduit becoming disabled, it remains active for the remainder of the fight, granting Lei Shen the ability.

Overloaded Circuits
– The Conduit with the highest charge after Supercharge Conduits expires becomes Overloaded, disabling the Conduit. An Overloaded Conduit inflicts 2925 to 3075 Nature damage every 1 sec to that quadrant of the room.

In Heroic difficulty, instead of the Overloaded Conduit becoming disabled, it remains active for the remainder of the fight, granting Lei Shen that ability.

Helm of Command
– Lei Shen forces the target off the platform by using his Helm of Command. Inflicts 8775 to 9225 Nature damage every 1 sec for 8 sec.

Lei Shen equips both his Axe and Polearm, wielding Thunder and Lightning in unision against his enemies. Lei Shen casts Overwhelming Power and consumes all electricity from the Throne of Thunder, destroying any remaining functional Conduits, preventing their further activation.

Overwhelming Power
– Lei Shen absorbs all of the electrical power from the Throne of Thunder, destroying any remaining functional Conduits, preventing their further activation. Overwhelming Power causes Lei Shen's melee attacks to inflict 585 to 615 Nature damage every 1 sec for 8 sec.

Thunderstruck
– Lei Shen winds up to hurl his axe at a target location, inflicting 117000 to 123000 Nature damage to nearby enemies. The damage inflicted decreases the farther away an enemy is from the impact point.

Summon Ball Lightning
– Summon several Ball Lightning elementals at the feet of random targets, inflicting 5850 to 6150 Nature damage to players within 6 yards of each elemental's creation.

Comments

Comment by CalaelenDT

Tyrant, Dictator, Conqueror, Emperor. The Thunder King’s numerous titles were earned by bringing absolute misery to the races of Pandaria. Resurrected into a world where his people no longer rule, Lei Shen is bent on ending the farce and bringing the land under his heel once more.

Lead Encounter Designer, Ion “Watcher” Hazzikostas:

The core concept for the Lei Shen fight developed during a brainstorming session as members of the encounter design team were throwing around ideas for potential fight mechanics, trying to see if anything would stick. A popular idea was for him to need to pause and recharge periodically, but someone suggested an interesting twist on that idea—the Thunder King isn’t just a battery that needs to recharge; he’s actually a power source himself. So instead of him drawing power from his citadel, the citadel draws power from him. He is a mighty warrior in his own right, with distinctive weapon and lightning attacks, but his mere presence energizes and activates portions of his citadel’s defenses, and managing those becomes a central element of the encounter. With a wide array of incredible visuals provided by our effects artists, and an awesome dungeon backdrop (those walls aren’t entirely decorative . . .), Lei Shen is an epic final encounter to wrap up an epic raid zone.

Comment by Helltooth

Thunder... thunder... thunder king! HO!

Comment by Alahuakbar

After it randomly came to me tonight, I finally realized where the inspiration for Lei Shen's character and backstory came from. He was the first emperor of the Mogu, and he's actually based off the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Qin was also a bit of a tyrant, he conquered many lands, and was a full time dictator. He conquered all of the separated states of china and unified them under one banner. (Like Lei Shen did to all the races of Pandaria) Qin ordered his army of slaves to do anything and everything for him, and would constantly enslave more and more people to do his bidding. One massive work order he bestowed upon his slaves was actually to create a huge wall to block off barbarian invaders from china, and this wall would later become the Great Wall of China. Sound familiar? Lei Shen constructed the Serpents spine wall for the same purpose, except instead of keeping out barbarians, it was to keep out the Mantid. Finally, even though MANY people tried to assassinate Qin, they all failed due to the Emperor's strength and cunning, and in the end, Qin died a natural death of old age, once again, just like Lei Shen.

This is a really cool historical reference by blizzard and it makes me even more excited to face him in the upcoming weeks! :D

Comment by DorianFyre

Lei Shen, otherwise known as The Thunder King, was the first Emperor of the Mogu. He unified the mogu races into one giant clan rather than many divided clans and through his will many of Pandaria's most notable works of ancient architecture were created, including the Serpent's Shine, Mogu'shan Palace and the two shrines either side of it in the Vale. He also lay the foundations for a dynasty of Mogu emperors, ruling an empire of slaves.

The mogu are a power-hungry race whose history is written in the blood of their enemies. In the past, warring clans and kingdoms fought for dominion over parcels of land, each looking to gain the upper hand against their neighbors. That all changed when Lei Shen leveraged his power and cunning to became the greatest of the mogu. Born during the Age of a Hundred Kings, Lei Shen was the son of a warlord and possessed a strength that commanded respect from the other mogu. He went on to do what many thought impossible; he united the mogu kings beneath him and declared himself emperor.

Once united, the mogu swept across Pandaria, conquering and subjugating all of the other races—until he encountered the mantid. The Lorewalkers were diligent in chronicling the history of Pandaria and have this text on record:

'It has been written that when the great Lei Shen first looked upon the lands of the mantid, he did not feel fear, but inspiration.

As he began to unify his people under a single banner and subjugate the other races of Pandaria, he knew that the mantid would never succumb to his authority. They spoke his language, the language of strength. He commanded his slaves to construct the Serpent's Spine, a magnificent wall that spanned the length of the empire.

It would take many generations to build. But Lei Shen knew how to motivate his subjects. Fear. Fear of the mantid moved mountains, raised armies, secured his empire, and built his wall.'

He is rumoured to have died of natural causes, as during his time, none could stand up to his might. He was taken to a mogu crypt deep within Kun Lai Summit, and entombed. It was and still is a great honor for mogu to be buried intact, as they otherwise treat the corpses of their dead as as parts and reagents for their spells and magic.

However, the departure of the mists has prompted the return and rise of the Zandalari trolls, who have brought The Thunder King back to life. It falls to the Alliance and Horde's strength to put him down, as the forces of Pandaria alone are regrettably not enough.

Pandaria, her hills of gold,In dark and mournful times of old,Did once a hopeless horror hold.When from her sacred Vale did spring,With storm and flash, a monstrous thing,His name Lei Shen, the Thunder King.His thunder boomed across the land,And none who dared and fought could standAgainst the iron tyrant’s hand.A palace grand, a walled domain,Such mighty works born of his reign.Built by slaves, their hearts in chains,But seasons change and tyrants die,His fury spent in times gone by,The thunder slept beneath Kun-Lai.By Zandalari hands he has been taken,By Zandalari voice he has awakened.Gather heroes, sound the drums,The Thunder King comes...The Thunder King comes.

But most importantly of all, he is voiced by the one-and-only Christopher Lee - though you might know him better as Sauron the White, from The Lord of the Rings films.

Comment by christehchris

Comment by Tric

Kinda looks like Mum-Ra in his empowered form

Comment by Fylwind

Strategy for handling conduit levels

It is generally a bad idea to deal with a fully charged conduit during the first intermission phase. In particular, Static Shock and Bouncing Bolts are especially terrible to deal with once they are level 3, since these two are also the worst abilities. However, in order to disable a conduit, it is necessary for it to have the highest charge.

The trick here is to charge the designated pillar to as close to 100 power as possible but without letting it reach level 2. Then, all the other pillars are to be charged to a power that is strictly lower than the designated pillar (staying at level 1, of course). This way, during intermission phase, all abilities are at level 2 (which is as low the mechanics allow) and the designated pillar will be disabled after the intermission.

This does imply that phase 1 is a somewhat of a DPS check since the raid would have at most ~3 mins before there are no more pillars to charge without ruining this strategy. Some extra time can be bought by having the raid eat some extra damage from Discharged Energy (during which Lei Shen is not charging anything), if needed.

How the conduit mechanic works

There are 4 conduits in each cardinal direction, each of which can grant a special ability to Lei Shen (exactly how this occurs will be mentioned later in this post):

(East) Diffusion Chain: Chain lightning that spawns an add for each player that gets hit.

(South) Overcharged: Causes a ring of energy to radiate from that player (max radius: about half the room). Players standing at the direct center are unaffected. In addition, it's sometimes possible to jump over the ring to avoid the effect.

(West) Bouncing Bolt: Several bolts are launched and land after a few secs (indicated by blue, swirling ground animations). If no players catch a bolt, an add will spawn and the bolt will bounce and land elsewhere (ad infinitum, until the bolt gets soaked by a player).

Each conduit has two properties (they are displayed in the boss frames):

level: either 1, 2 or 3

power: from 0 to 100

All conduits begin at level 1 and power 0. When Lei Shen is in close proximity to a conduit (the range is quite small), he will charge the conduit, increasing the power of the conduit at a rate of about 2.3 per sec. While charging, the power of this conduit is displayed in the alternate power bar. Once the power reaches the maximum (100), the conduit will gain a level and the power resets to zero. If the level is at its maximum (3), the power will remain at 0 and Lei Shen will stop charging the conduit and begin to release Discharged Energy until he is moved to another (uncharged) conduit.

In phases 1 and 2, Lei Shen will gain the ability of the conduit that he is currently charging. In the intermission phases, Lei Shen will gain the ability of all the conduits (except the one that gets disabled).

Both the power and level of a conduit will affect the damage of the corresponding ability. However, the level will also cause the ability to be more powerful in a different way:

Static Shock: More players are afflicted with the debuff; 1 per level (e.g. at level 3 there will be 3 Static Charge debuffs going out).

Diffusion Chain: The adds have more health and hit harder (not usually of concern).

When the an intermission phase occurs, all conduits will automatically gain 1 level (assuming they are not already capped at 3), but their power remains unchanged. Once the intermission ends, every conduit will reset to level 1 and power 0, and the conduit with the highest effective level ( = level × 100 + power) will be disabled for the rest of the encounter.

Comment by Alahuakbar

Also, Gratz to Dream Paragon on Lightning's Blade EU for the World First Heroic 10 Man and World First Heroic overall kill of Lei Shen! I'm so excited to see how they handle Ra-Den and to see who comes out on top in the 25 Heroic Race! :D

Comment by Nemoboy

Method got world first 25 heroic.

Comment by UndercoverHobo

Hey, just thought I'd post as a thanks to Blizzard, though I should maybe do it on the forums... Oh well it's early, enough rambling.

I'm a role-player on WoW and after reading this and it bringing light to thoughts I've had before, I thought I would share them. A lot of people get upset that they don't get lore for their race with new patches, I've been upset with that at times too, but then I realized something. We may not get the lore we always want, but look at how much time, effort, and thought Blizzard puts into making new lore interesting and exciting, even connecting it with little history from our world's past, and they do this all for us, they eve taught me a bit today after reading these posts. Blizzard does so much to make this game a joyous experience in all aspects to all players, and I appreciate the work they have and continue to put in this game.Thank you, Blizzard(As always, my apologies for the wall of text.)

Comment by lightclaw

LFR Strategy:This is the hard fight of this wing, but only because it has mechanics that need to be followed. Once the raid gets the hang of the mechanics, the fight is fairly straightforward (if high damage and long.)

Entire Raid: This guy has a whole bunch of abilities, but with DBM and common sense they won't cause you much trouble. However, there are four mechanics in this fight that are particularly important to note. Once you get them down, you've got the fight done and it's just a matter of staying alive long enough to kill the boss.

1. Overcharged - If someone near you gets Overcharged, they will grow to twice their normal size and get a lightning pool around their feet. You have two options - A) Stack right on top of them and avoid the effect or B) Get as far away as possible (40 yards at least) and avoid the effect. If you are closer, you'll take large amounts of damage and get stunned.

2. Static Shock - The affected player gets a blue arrow over his or her head and an 8 yard circle around the feet. After 8 seconds they explode doing a bunch of damage, shared by everyone in the circle. Stack on people with blue arrows (and for goodness sake don't run away if you've got the arrow...)

3. Bouncing Bolt (Diffused Lightning adds) - The boss throws a bolt of lightning that bounces across the platform. Its landing site is denoted by a small, blue swirly circle. Someone has to stand in the circle and get hit by the lightning bolt when it bounces through. If this does not happen, an add spawns. During the intermission, dozens of adds can spawn in just a few seconds if people don't follow this mechanic. (Note: This is different from the large, whitish swirly circle from Thunderstruck.)

4. Diffusion Chain - A chain lightning type ability that causes an annoying add to spawn for every single person hit. Spread out to avoid the effect.

Tanks:Tank the boss near a pillar. Each pillar provides the boss with a special power, and the level of the pillar can be seen by counting the rings of lightning it has. When the pillar reaches three levels (three rings of lightning) it becomes supercharged and more dangerous (though not deadly in LFR.) Move the boss from pillar to pillar to prevent any of them from charging completely. After the intermissions, pieces of the platform become electrified and should be avoided.

- We chose Bouncing Bolt to start with so that we could eliminate the adds after the first intermission, but your raid may prefer a different pillar.

During the first phase, swap after each Decapitate, and the tank who is focused for Decapitate should run away (the ability does less damage the farther you move, but you really don't have to go far on LFR.)

After the first phase the fight becomes a single tank fight. There is an intended tank swap later but it is unnecessary in LFR. It's much easier for the tanks to stick to boss or adds rather than trying to swap (there may or may not even be adds to deal with.)

Throughout the fight the adds should be gathered up so that they can be AoE'ed down, preferably on top of the boss.

DPS:Kill adds whenever possible. When the boss casts Thunderstruck, get away from the large swirly mark on the ground. Follow the mechanics for the four abilities that I noted above. (Stack on Overcharged or Static Shock, stand in small blue puddles to prevent adds, and spread out for diffusion chain.) During intermission, spread out around the platform and continue following those mechanics.

Healers:There is a lot of tank damage, particularly when the boss is being moved between pillars. Raid damage is also substantial, but it came in bursts that looked worse than they actually were. During intermission, try to spread out around the platform so that each quarter has someone healing. Be sure to follow the mechanics that I noted above (particularly during the intermission, when they will all happen in turn.) There is a pushback phase near the end of the fight. As long as you don't run against the pushback, you can cast while sliding backward.

tl;dr version:There are four abilities that you have to pay attention to or the raid will wipe.1. Overcharged - Stack on the giant person who is affected and it won't hurt you. If two people are overcharged near each other, pick one (you'll still get hit by the other, but won't die.)

2. Static shock - Stack on the person with the blue arrow to share damage.

Tanks:Tank the boss near a pillar until the progress bar gets close to full then move it to a different corner. Swap after Decapitate and run away if you were the Decapitate target. Pick up adds. After phase 1 it's pretty much a single tank fight in LFR, or boss tank/add tank anyway. Avoid the electrified quarter of the platform after phase 1 and 2.

DPS:Follow the mechanics listed above. Adds > Boss. When Thunderstruck happens (large swirly lightning circle) get away. During intermission spread out on the platform but continue following the mechanics.

Healers:Lots of damage all around, with high tank damage when moving between corners. Be sure to follow the mechanics listed above. Spread out during intermission so that the entire raid is getting healed.

Comment by Patros

Conduit selection is really all about setting up the second intermission the way you want it, because the first intermission will always have all four active.

This boils down to two choices: (1) Which conduit do you want disabled during the second intermission? (2) Which conduit can you live with being leveled up during the second intermission?

To clarify the second question, unless your dps is extremely high, you're going to end up with one leveled-up conduit by the end of phase 2. You'll have something like 90, 90, 130.

My guild was successful by (1) disabling diffusion chain so there is no reason to avoid stacking and (2) leveling up overcharge. You can minimize the difficulty of multiple overcharge targets at the end of ph2 and in intermission2 by good stacking at the right times.

Comment by decembre

In LFR, it's possible to single tank Lei Shen through the first phase, and possibly through the second if DPS is heavy enough. Decapitate can easily be shrugged off and the debuff falls off before he casts it again. Fusion Slash will stack, but if DPS is fast enough, it may be possible to push him to the second intermission before it becomes too much to heal through.

I found this out when our LFR's tank quit and I got frustrated with the DPS not knowing the mechanics. So with only four healers, we decided to pull to let DPS practice the fight and surprisingly almost got to the start of the second intermission.

Comment by Molybdenum33

Has anyone defeated the whole raid on heroic yet?

Comment by Tarcalion

Lei Shen is Mandarin Chinese, and the characters are 雷神 (pinyin same as the normal English name), which means "Thunder/Lightning God".

For other fun ones, I'm guessing Lei Shi is Thunder Stone 雷石, Ji-kun is tricky, but I'm guessing they were going for 鸡鶤, the 2nd character being a mythological large bird, like a roc, while the 1st character is chicken. Sha probably comes from 杀, to kill.

There are lots of names I can't even remember right now with some fun meanings. The development team probably had a good time with that.

Note -- the Romanization of some of the characters in game is very inconsistent, fluctuating between Wade-Giles (Pe-king) and Pinyin (Bei-jing). Also, some Chinese-looking names aren't actual Chinese phonemes (Qon, Quilen), at least not Mandarin.

Comment by zharshoul

Anyone notice how after the 2nd intermission when he says the bottom phrase he sounds like hes crying , as if hes thinking (OMG IM LOSING! NO THIS CANNOT BE)

NO! You are UNWORTHY! I ... AM.... THE THUNDER KING!

Comment by ipwn4

Lol, strategy guides. Have the tank taunt and jump off platform. Lei Zhen will follow. Use loot-a-rang.

Comment by blupache

The Electrical Shock from Overwhelming Power is applied at a rate of about 1 per second.

This means that in the final phase tanks need to either swap at 18 stacks, or they'll run the risk of Lei Shen becoming Immune to taunts.

It's doable with either approach, but it can cause confusion where a tank is spamming taunt trying to get the boss & just ends up extending Lei Shen's taunt immunity until the tank he's is killed.

Comment by MasterRaistlin

Found this elsewhere, but for us it was a critical piece of info that I don't see here yet:

The base damage of Static Shock is 1,000,000 in 25 man (400K in 10). For each % of charge the pillar gets, the damage increases by another 10k (4K in 10). At 100% charge, the pillar would gain 1,000,000 of damage.

The pillar always gains one level (+100%) energy during the transition. Most people, depending on the order in which they take the boss to the pillars, will have between 50-90% charge on the pillar. The pillar is fully discharged at the end of the transition (hence why each pillar starts at 0% in the second phase).

Thus, during the transition, assuming 80 energy on the static shock pillar:

Comment by Avacadoi

Druids can use Symb on a mage for IB (Resto), CoS (Balance) or a priest for Dispersion (Feral).

Use your second potion after you kill the first set of ball lightning. This will make P2 a lot smoother and let you save BL for P3.

When you split your groups try to spread out the people who can't soak so one group doesn't have to stack all the time.

You can do a bit of "pillar dancing". What this means is if you're running out of pillars to charge you can move the boss in and out of the pillar. This will make it gain energy much slower at the cost of a tad extra raid damage.

And also, don't push boss to 30% while Ball Lightning is up/going to be cast.

Comment by alpanhell

No idea what that refers to. I see no mention on here about all the lore found on Isle of Thunder relating to Mogu and Titans too.

They also talk about Lei Shen going up on a mountain before coming down with the power of Lightning.

I really like stuff like this and would hope that Blizzard would explore it further and answer the questions. But from past experience I'm not holding my breath.

While everyone here seems to be looking for a relationship with real word Chinese history (which I'm sure there is) there is a tie-in to the whole Titan's servants things that you saw in Northrend. Not sure if it's a well planned story and tie-in or a lack of imagination at Blizzard.

Comment by flaotinging

With all the hype Lorewalker Cho gave this lightning guy with all the poetry and all that I was disappointed to learn he doesn't drop an Anima-fueled Saurok-bedazzled Thundering Cloud Serpent or something.

Although... future me is bittersweetly thankful for not having to farm heroic Lei Shen on my DK at level 100.

Comment by Lordplatypus

He claims to be the "Slayer of Kings and Gods". Interestingly enough, we, the player are also exactly the same, Slayers of Kings (Arthas) and Gods (C'thun, Yog'Saron). It shows that Lei Shen, while a powerful being, was only a big fish in a small pool compared to the rest of azeroth.

Comment by OptimalNorway

I don't find to be as recognizeable as neither The Lich King or Illidan Stormrage. Blizzard does not represent him too well in World of Warcraft, In my opinion.

Comment by Eninia

Comment by rcooper12

Comment by tygrey

Monks can stand in his face and take a decapitate when dampen harm is up and not drop below 60% hp on normal or Heroic

Comment by Gearsby

Apparently he is voiced by the godlike Christopher Lee, i.e. Saruman from The Lord of The Rings movies and Francisco Scaramanga from the James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun, among many other great characters... :D

Comment by Goblinity

I was rather surprised when I checked for Lei Shen's voice actor. It turned out to be no other than Sir Christopher Lee.

Comment by Archaix

I am the lord of the wastelandA modern day Man of SteelI gather darkness to please meAnd I command ye to kneel, before the...